In this installment, Keri listed the players who were top-50 selections before last season and have now fallen out of the rankings. Stanton was one of those players, falling from 28th in 2016 to off the board now.

“The biggest contract in baseball history might also be on the verge of becoming untradeable,” Keri wrote. “Stanton is owed $91.5 million over the next four seasons and can either opt out after the 2020 season or make another $218 million guaranteed after that. That’s a hefty deal for a player who’s topped 123 games played just once in the past five years.”

Stanton has played just 193 of a possible 324 games over the past two seasons, while his batting average and on-base percentage have declined in both. That’s not the greatest trend for someone with a heavily backloaded structure, although there’s time for the 27-year-old to turn things around.

There were seven players ranked higher than Stanton in 2016 who also fell off the list, including the aforementioned Kershaw. The Los Angeles Dodgers can thank the clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent following an in-season trade for his fall.

View Comments
0

There are no comments yet. Be the first to post your thoughts. Sign in or register.